Prosocial involvement in antisocial situations: Defending the victims of bullying

Beyond bullying as the ringleader and being victimized, further forms of participation in bullying have been identified, including defending the victim(s). Defending behaviors can include both direct intervening by confronting the bully, or different kinds of supportive communication to the victim. Mobilizing the bystanders to support the victimized student might be a key issue in effective interventions. In order to enhance such behaviors in the peer group, we need to understand more about the individual and interpersonal factors related to defending. In this chapter, authors first present the group view on bullying and discuss some cognitive and affective factors that have been suggested to play a role in promoting prosocial behavior in general and defending behavior in particular. Furthermore, authors argue that such individual factors may interact with interpersonal variables, such as the child’s social status within the peer group, in determining the child’s actual behavior. Results from Finnish and Italian studies are presented, showing the unique and interactive effects of cognitions (self-efficacy beliefs and outcome expectations), empathic skills (affective and cognitive empathy), and social status (social preference as well as perceived popularity) on defending victimized peers. Finally, practical implications for the intervention programs are discussed.